Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have weeks until the birth of their first baby together. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not revealed the baby’s sex but Diana remains the bookies’ favourite name if their child is a girl. The Royal Family often choose traditional names for their children following previous lineages such as Henry and Victoria.

Prince William and Kate opted for long-standing regal names George and Louis for their two sons.

Now, researchers have revealed the lovely reason why the royal baby could be called Gertrude or Marmaduke.

And it is all down to Meghan’s and Harry’s lineage, as discovered by ancestry.co.uk.

Russell James, historian at the family history website, said US-born former actress Meghan has two relatives named Gertrude – her maternal great-great-grandmother and paternal great-grandmother.

Her great-great-grandmother Gertrude Sadler, who was born in Georgia in 1882 and died in 1958, was a charitable pillar of her community – AND also involved with the Good Samaritan Aid Society.

Gertrude M Merril, who was born in 1887 and 1938, was born on Meghan’s father Thomas Markle’s side.

Other names in the Duchess’ family tree include several Ralphs and an Ursula.

In Harry’s lineage, there are several Lancelots plus a Marmaduke, Boniface and Hyacinthe.

Mr James said: “When delving into someone’s family tree, you never know what you’re going to find, so it’s always interesting to uncover names that may have been forgotten or would now be considered quite uncommon.

“The Royal Family have often been associated with traditional names such as George, Henry or Victoria, but with Meghan’s ancestry revealing names such as Ralph and Gertrude, predicting the name of the next royal baby remains a guessing game.”

Mr James said the most common names in both Harry and Meghan’s family tree were Mary, John and Elizabeth.

What do the bookies say?

Leading bookmakers Coral has the following odds on the unusual names:

• Gertrude 50/1
• Ursula 66/1
• Marmaduke 100/1
• Hyacinthe 150/1

Coral’s Harry Aitkenhead told Express.co.uk: “Gertrude has entered our betting at 50/1 and certainly wouldn’t be an enormous surprise given Meghan’s links with the name.

“Ursula was a popular name in years gone by but does seem to have gone out of fashion lately and we make that a 66/1 chance.

“There’s a strong chance that some of these more funky names might appear as middle names, rather than the child’s first name, and that’s reflected in the way that we do have them at much longer odds than the more traditional names.”

Ladbrokes has more conservative odds, which are:

• Gertrude 200/1
• Ursula 200/1
• Hyacinthe – 200/1
• Marmaduke – 250/1

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